


Collide

by AuroraNova



Series: The Vadari Chronicles [1]
Category: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Genre: Gen, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-11
Updated: 2019-01-11
Packaged: 2019-10-08 09:24:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,273
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17383937
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AuroraNova/pseuds/AuroraNova
Summary: "I had no idea you were such a hazard with a loaded cart.""I had no idea you were coming back to DS9."Powerful enemies, enduring friendship, and everything in between.





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**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this as a desperately-needed break from wrestling with Garak's POV in Points of No Return.

In the end, Julian would do it all over again in a heartbeat. Even knowing what he’d lose – his Starfleet career, his home on DS9, his fledgling relationship with Ezri – he’d still lure Sloan to the station and cure the morphogenic disease. He couldn’t do anything else. It was his contribution to winning the war, not to mention stopping a genocide. What is one man's happiness compared to that?

Miles, at least, is safe from Section 31’s wrath. They’ve reserved it for Julian, arranging to have him expelled from Starfleet after all. Supposedly it’s because allowing him to stay gives people dangerous ideas about Augments being, well, not so dangerous, but he knows it’s really revenge with a side of warning for anyone else who might try to cross Section 31.

He’s not happy, but he can live with it. Besides, this situation could be worse. In light of the arrangement made with his father two and a half years ago, he’s allowed to keep his medical license, though he’s been strongly encouraged to keep to the outer Federation worlds for the time being.

Kira wanted to keep him on the station as a Bajoran militia doctor, but he declined. Julian has never claimed great emotional awareness, but even he knows that trying to act as though his life hadn't irrevocably changed will do him no favors. It would hurt too much to be reminded of what he could no longer have. Besides, it will be easier to let Ezri go if he’s physically absent.

He loves her, although some small part of him wonders if it’s enough and the right way to have made a relationship work long-term, if this thing born of war would last through peace. Perhaps they were only meant for a brief, burning passion and then comfortable friendship, regardless. He’ll never know, because he refuses to let her tie herself to a disgraced Augment. She’s been seriously considering moving to command track, and he would only hurt her career while resenting that it outshone his own. She protested, tears were shed on both sides, but it was for the best and they knew it.

There’s a freighter stopping briefly at DS9 before heading to the Vadari moons, which Julian has chosen as his destination. The system is on the outer fringes of the Federation, near Breen space, and was badly ravaged during the war. He’s confident they’ll have need of doctors, even a genetically engineered one.

Half an hour before the deadline for luggage to be stowed, he’s pushing a cart full of medical supplies toward the docking pylon and due to righting a wobbling crate of analgesics, he very nearly ploughs into someone.

“Doctor, you really ought to pay attention to where you’re going.”

Julian’s head snaps up at the familiar voice. “Garak?”

“I had no idea you were such a hazard with a loaded cart.”

As though that’s the surprise here. “I had no idea you were coming back to DS9.”

He can see Garak noting his civilian clothes, no doubt disapproving of them. No comment on his supposed lack of fashion sense is forthcoming, though. Instead Garak checks to see they’re in relative privacy before saying, “I hadn’t planned on it.”

“Oh? What changed?”

He pushed too much. Garak gives him an assessing look and promptly changes the subject. “I could ask the same, since you appear to be leaving.”

“Yes, well.” He has to clear his throat, since a lump had appeared there somehow. “I’m afraid my past has caught up with me.”

“I could say the same,” says Garak, who doesn’t give any indication of lumps in _his_ throat, of course.

“I’ve apparently made some very powerful enemies.”

“You, Doctor? Enemies? I find that difficult to believe.”

“Believe it. They got me cashiered from Starfleet, though the good news is, I get to keep my medical license.”

“Still an optimist, after all these years. I despair of you.” The words are harsh but the tone is fond. “May I ask where you’re going?”

“The Vadari system. I haven’t narrowed down a moon yet. And you?”

In response, Garak hands him a Cardassian-style tablet. There’s an official document granting Elim Garak refugee status, entitling him to move freely in the Federation. Julian skims down to the grounds: Garak worked with the Federation in the war, but more importantly, he is officially ‘in danger due to his association with the Federation.’

“Is this true?” asks Julian.

“It’s not a forgery, I assure you.”

“You know that’s not what I meant.” He hands back the tablet, the grounds for granting refugee status front and center.

“Far more than I’d prefer,” says Garak. “I have my fair share of enemies. The danger is not exaggerated.”

Of course the risk isn’t exaggerated. Garak wouldn’t leave Cardassia unless he was certain that remaining was a death sentence. In fact, part of Julian is surprised to learn Garak wouldn’t rather be killed on his homeworld than leave again. Maybe the danger is one of his true lies and Garak leaving Cardassia has nothing to do with his safety whatsoever. It wouldn’t come as a surprise for this to somehow be another sacrifice for the good of the state.

Julian has gotten better at interpersonal relationships over the years. He knows Garak doesn’t want to hear how sorry he is, so he says nothing of the sort even though his heart is breaking all over for his friend, who wanted nothing more than to return to Cardassia only to have that dream cruelly snatched away.

Instead, he lifts his eyebrows in faux surprise and says, “Dangerous for you? A simple tailor? I find that difficult to believe.”

But he doesn’t, not really. The sporadic news reports coming out of Cardassia have suggested that the rebels are being blamed from turning the Dominion weapons on Cardassia Prime. He understands very well how this puts Garak’s life at great risk. There are other factions trying to purge Cardassia of the old order, and Garak was part of that as well. No, there is no shortage of people who would see him dead. The question is, why has Garak decided not to stay and face the risk? His devotion to Cardassia has always overridden his survival instinct.

Garak reads this knowledge in Julian’s eyes and probably doesn’t like it, considering his general aversion to being understood.

“Are you staying on the station or just passing through?” asks Julian.

“I haven’t decided.”

That’s likely a lie, but it’s one Julian is content to accept anyway.

“If you’re looking to leave, I hear Vadari moons are lovely.”

Garak stills for a brief half-second. It’s his instinctive response to surprise, one he can’t entirely override, and Julian is able to read him that much, now. “Really? I’d thought you would wish to protect such a place from the influence of supposedly dangerous tailors.”

Oh. _Oh_. Julian smiles when he realizes what Garak really means. “I think a supposedly dangerous tailor might just liven the Vadari system up considerably.”

He would welcome Garak’s company, and there’s nothing left for his friendship with Garak to disgrace. Now that the possibility has been suggested, Julian will be disappointed if he chooses otherwise.

“Do you think they could use a tailor?”

“I’m not sure, but Vadari VII is in the process of rebuilding its famed orchards. I imagine a gardener could find work, even if a tailor can’t.”

“I may consider it,” says Garak.

Four hours later, they’re on the transport together, and as he leaves his life behind, Julian’s heart is a bit lighter for having his friend beside him.

 


End file.
